Keep Drive Spinning
Keep Drive Spinning is a macOS utility that prevents external hard drives and other storage devices from entering sleep or spin-down mode. It is designed for use with external drives that do not properly respect macOS power management settings, allowing users to keep specific drives active even when the system would normally power them down to save energy. The app is particularly useful for backup workflows, continuous file serving, or when working with older external drives that have compatibility issues with macOS sleep states.
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1 suggestionKeep Drive Spinning has been discontinued by its developer. The last version released was 3.0, and the app is no longer supported. While the Roaring Apps entry mentions the macOS version has a Universal Binary and runs natively on Apple Silicon, the project is no longer maintained — there will be no further updates or bug fixes. The app may continue to work under Rosetta 2 on current Intel-based Macs, but since it is abandoned, it will stop functioning entirely when Apple removes Rosetta 2 in macOS 28 (late 2027). If you rely on preventing external drives from sleeping, consider using macOS's built-in Energy Saver settings (System Settings → General → Lock Screen → battery and power adapter options) or third-party replacements like Caffeine, Amphetamine, or Theine — all of which are actively maintained and run natively on Apple Silicon. For more sophisticated drive management, some external drive manufacturers provide their own power-management utilities that may offer better compatibility and features.
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